Narrative Puzzler World Cup Challenge

From Narrative Magazine:

Until the final showdown on July 11, thirty-two soccer teams will compete in South Africa to steal Italy’s crown as World Cup champions.

For the players, the games are the ultimate moment of competition. For the countries they represent, it’s a time for national pride. For South Africa, the World Cup is a chance to grow, pumping more than 50 billion dollars into the economy and turning the world’s eye to their spot on the map.

The face of the World Cup is Zakumi, a golden leopard with flowing green hair. He’s fifteen, called “Za” for short, and lives by the official motto, “Zakumi’s game is fair play.”

The designers assigned to create Zakumi set out to integrate the many aspects of the World Cup into a single marketing image: a mascot. What would you have come up with?

This week, Literary Puzzler challenges you to create your own World Cup mascot. In just three or four sentences, provide a portrait of the character you’d craft as the image of the summer’s competition.

Send your mascot to Puzzler by Sunday noon, Pacific daylight time.